conversation in the dark
by iiiionly
Summary: Teitho challenge July 2013 - Reticence is a thing much prized, until it gets in the way. Featuring Arwen & Aragorn in the dark.


_A/N: This was written for the July 2013 Teitho challenge to write a story using only dialogue. _

_conversation in the dark_

"Where are we going?"

"You will see soon. We will leave the horses here and walk the remainder of the way. Come, give me your hand that I may enjoy the pleasure of walking close beside you. It is time, my love. You must screw up your courage and ask me, for I am being importuned and would have the shield of our betrothal to protect me. Grandmother is on your side you know, she has discouraged many suitors without my knowledge, though I do not know if this was through foresight or the telling of her mirror."

"I suppose it is Haldir pressing you again."

"Aye, he is Marchwarden, you know. And I have only to bat my eyelashes at him to bring him to heel."

"You are not a tease, my lady."

"Ahhhhh, but you make me one with your reticence, my lord. And I see I may not tease _you_ either tonight. I prefer it when you are relaxed enough to laugh at my indignation. May I twine my arm around thusly? That is better, now I feel the entire length of you along my side and it good to feel you, to taste you again, to touch you. I have missed you."

"Not as much as I have missed you."

"Truly? Let us compare notes then. You have visited thrice in the last … wait, I must count, a thing foreign to an elf … you came first in the year of the Great Fire, then again in the year of Drought, and again in the year of …"

"Fire – again. You measure my comings and goings by catastrophes?"

"You are amused, that is good. And the answer is yes, because you only come if there is disaster where your able body may be of some use. Only thrice in…"

"Twenty-nine years, my lady."

"Twenty-nine years? Why, that should be appalling! In your measurement of time, that is a practically a life time! And look here, we have reached the top while we squabbled about your reserve. Sit … No, lie back, I think, I promise not to take advantage of you, my lord, if you will promise to kiss me."

"I have disputed nothing of your scold, my lady, so how are we squabbling? Comfortable? If you will lay your head upon my shoulder … there now, wriggle up right next to me again. Aye, it is good to feel you, to touch and taste you again. Does Haldir enjoy your kisses too?"

"I will admit I have allowed him to kiss me, just to compare you see, for though time does not pass for me as it does for you, I have missed you greatly. Did you know that my mother wished me to marry Legolas?"

"Surely you jest?"

"Nay, she was fast friends with Thranduil's queen and though Legolas is much younger than I, I think they were planning a match from the moment he was born. My father, however, told me I should not marry someone more attractive than I. Do you think he believes me so vain that I could not tolerate a spouse more beautiful than I?"

"Elrond? Think his daughter vain? The contemplation of such a thought confounds the mind. Though I am pleased you heeded his advice."

"That sounds rather smug of you, my love."

"Am I your love?"

"Behold my indignation! What signals I have given to make you doubt that veracity?"

"None, but mortality weighs heavily. I cannot bring myself to ask you to give up an eternity with a spouse more suited to you. Why are you sitting up?"

"Because if you will not, then I must take the initiative and I wish to see you handsome face. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, Prince of Numenor and Chieftain of the Dunedain, will you pledge your troth to me, will you bond with me so that we may live happily ever after for whatever time we are given? Will you stop withholding yourself from me out of some sense of inferiority or duty? Will you pledge your troth to an elf maiden who has known her heart from our first meeting and loved you with a certainty she had thought only given to elf kind in their bondings? Will you join with me in the most sacred of ways and create children who will be even more beautiful than Legolas?"

"Aye, Arwen Evenstar, daughter of Elrond, princess of her people and chieftain of my heart, I will pledge my troth to you. But I will not give you children until we are married indeed, before every witness we may gather."

"Then, Aragorn, son of Arathorn, I pledge my troth to you. I will keep myself only for you and count the days and hours and minutes until, in truth, we are one in body and soul, since I will grant you the wisdom of waiting to conceive."

"And I pledge my troth to you, Arwen, daughter of Elrond, Evening Star of your people. I have kept myself only for you and will continue to do so until that day our lives are joined and I, too, will count every second until we are one in body and soul."

"I love you, my lord."

"I am your adoring slave, my lady … So then, I kiss better than Haldir? What about Legolas?"

* * *

_This has been a work of transformative fan fiction. All characters and settings belong to the Estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. The story itself is the intellectual property of the author. No copyright infringement has been perpetrated for financial gain. _


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